A datacenter is a facility used to house a collection of computer servers and associated components, typically network hardware. The collection of computer servers is often called a “server cluster” or “server farm,” and is designed to meet server needs far beyond the capability of a single machine. The networking hardware typically includes network switches and/or routers which enable communication between the different parts of the server farm and the users of the server farm. Datacenters are commonly used for cluster computing, web services, remote data storage, web hosting, and other web services. Datacenters are increasingly being used by enterprises instead of, or in addition to, mainframe computers.
As the demand for datacenters continues to increase, the security of the data handled in datacenters becomes an increasing concern. Software authorization components and security components can provide reasonable protection against attempts to remotely access information on computer devices. Such software components can often be economically implemented to prevent, for example, hackers or other unauthorized individuals from using a network connection to obtain or tamper with data handled in datacenter servers. However, remote access is typically not the only concern. Other difficulties may arise when addressing data security threats from local or physical access. In the absence of adequate safeguards, a thief may steal a computer or components of a computer and carry this plunder out of a datacenter to later access data on the computer or to sell the hardware components. Alternatively, a saboteur may sneak an electronic device into a datacenter and use information or other capabilities of the device to corrupt or otherwise negatively impact datacenter data, such as by introducing a virus or other malicious code through physical or direct interfaces with servers in the datacenter. As increasingly smaller electronic devices become increasingly available, detection of such devices being carried in or out of a datacenter can become increasingly difficult, expensive, and/or otherwise infeasible.